INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. 385 
and few epidemics rage among the migratory Indians. Fevers are almost unknown, and 
nervous diseases seldom met with. 
The transition from summer to winter is very sudden ; no long period of time intervenes 
equivalent to the Indian summer of the States. A few days are often sufficient to deprive 
the trees of leaves, freeze up the running streams, and clothe the yet partially green plains 
with a garment of snow. ‘The winters are variable, mostly very cold, with deep snow. 
During the period of greatest cold, the mercury freezes. It often remains frozen for seve- 
ral days, and for weeks together the temperature ranges from thirty to forty degrees below 
zero. ‘The snow-storms at this period are terrible, and almost certain death befalls those 
who are so unfortunate as to be caught on the plains. -During every extremely cold 
winter Indians are frozen to death, many instances of which might be recorded here. 
Other winters are mild, but little snow falls, though there is always a short spell of in- 
tense cold, mostly in the month of January. When the winter proves mild and open, a 
disagreeable spring follows, snow falls in May, and March and April produce cold winds, 
rain, snow, and sleet. Occasionally, however, the spring opens finely, and the change 
from winter to summer is as sudden as from warm to winter weather. ‘The constant ex- 
posure to cold, inseparable from the lives and occupation of the Indians, sleeping on damp 
ground, wet feet, and insufficient clothing, bring on bronchitis, pulmonary affections, 
rheumatism, and sometimes quinsy. ‘These diseases do not often prove immediately fatal, 
but usually enfeeble the constitution. By reference to some tables of temperature kept 
at Fort Union, we find the longest winter on record to be that of 1844, when the Missouri 
closed on the 9th of November, and opened on the 21st of April. 
The Assiniboins do not raise any cattle or sheep, but judging from the stock reared at 
Fort Union, near the mouth of the Yellowstone, the country is well adapted to grazing 
purposes. ‘The grasses of spontaneous growth are very nutritious, and their supply inex- 
haustible. The only obstruction seems to be the severe cold of winter and the deep snow, 
though if animals are-housed and provided for during a month or two in midwinter, it 
has been proven that no hardier or better stock can be raised in any country than in this. 
Sheep especially would thrive well if properly cared for, as far as grazing is concerned, 
though the great number of wolves with which the country abounds would present a for- 
midable objection. Large quantities of good hay can be cut either on the Missouri 
bottoms or in the valleys of other streams, and, by experiments made near Fort Union, it 
has been ascertained that oats, corn, potatoes, and all garden vegetables grow well in 
favorable seasons. he soil, being light and sandy, requires frequent rains to produce 
a good crop, which happens about one year in three, the others failing from drouth and 
destruction by grasshoppers and other insects. The natural productions of the soil which 
are useful for food to man are not very numerous, but are held in high esteem by the 
